Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords Shot

Tragedy in Tucson

Arizona Congressional Representative Gabrielle Giffords has been shot. She was shot in the head as she was addressing constituents at a Tucson, Arizona stripmall. Congresswoman Giffords was immediately taken to a nearby hospital and is listed in critical condition. The Arizona representative was attending an event at a local stripmall in Arizona when she and several others were attacked by at least one gunman. So far, six fatalities have been reported and 13 injuries. As details unfold, more information will be added to this post.

Rep. Giffords was elected to the House in 2006. She represents the state’s 8th Congressional District. According to news reports, police have a 21-year-old man in custody, but have released no information about motive or possible co-conspirators.

Gabrielle Gifford won re-election to the House of Representatives in a hotly contested race this past November. Back in March 2010 NewsMax.com reported that Sarah Palin said she would, “go after lawmakers who voted for healthcare reform and hail from districts she and Arizona Sen. John McCain won in the 2008 presidential election.” Gabriel Giffords, along with at least 16 other congressional representatives were listed by Sarah Palin on Facebook as Democrats that Sarah Palin determined she would “go after”. The list below was reported widely in March.

Palin wrote that the representatives running for re-election would be held accountable for this disastrous Obamacare vote.

In November most of the congressional representatives on Palin’s list lost their seats. Of the 20 Palin listed, 3 retired and 15 lost in the November 2010. Only Gabrielle Giffords and Nick Rahall defeated their opponents. It is reported that Giffords was a very popular representative who had regular face-to-face contact with her constituents. The shooting occurred at an event put on by the congresswoman dubbed, “Congress on Your Corner”. In a tweet posted on her website less than an hour before the shooting, Congresswoman Giffords wrote, “My 1st Congress on Your Corner starts now. Please stop by to let me know what is on your mind or tweet me later.”

About Dick and Sharon

As a husband and wife team, Sharon Kyle and Dick Price publish several print and online newsletters on political and social justice issues. Sharon serves as Publisher for Dick & Sharon's LA Progressive and Dick serves as Editor.

Comments

Do we really need to resurrect the reams of proof of the left calling for violence against the right in this country over the past 10 years? It is easy to find, complete with pictures of the signs (with misspelled words), speeches, videos, books, and mainstream movies. And it is also easy to find violence laden terminology used by the left in campaigns and campaign graphics (including bulls-eye targets placed on Republican Congressional Districts) on maps distributed by Democrats with calls to attack them.

At least be honest and acknowledge that the terms used by Palin are an echo of what we have heard for at least the last decade coming from the left. And let’s not forget the multiple attacks on Tea Party members by SEIU clothed union thugs at various rallies 2 years ago.

Civility requires BOTH sides to pursue some reflection and introspection of the behavior of their side as well as demanding the other side clean up their act.

…it really doesn’t matter what the shooter’s politics are, the fact is that the right has launched a gun-terminology campaign against the middle and the left, and that kind of rhetoric triggers a response from crazies that manifests itself as murder and mayhem.

Anyone who tries to diminish the far-right’s role in this cultural digression is giving sympathy to the devil, regardless of Loughner’s political bent.

Also, don’t conflate criticism of careless politicians and opportunists like Palin with opposition to 2nd Amendment rights. The 2nd Amendment assumes only sane, rational, and community-cooperative people would be allowed to own guns (“A well regulated Militia,” and that is verbatim) and this guy is living proof that gun laws are hardly well-regulated.

Sharon & Dick as much as I respect you, you know I always disagree with you. This killer is a nut job; did you look up his website on the internet under his name? It was easy to find but may not be there now. And you should be big enough to know that Sarah Palin is not talking about going after these people to harm them physically but politically and the same thing with the Tea Party people they are not violent & have always demonstrated in peace. But the Unions are violent and we have seen some violence in nut jobs on both sides of the isle. So please don’t start trying to stir up problems. Do you remember back in the 60’s when John Kennedy was President and Robert Kennedy was Attorney General and he went after the mafia but also, after Jimmy Hoffa. He called Hoffa a communist and you know the history I am sure. But back then Communism was not accepted in the United States nor Socialism or Progressives. We even have now Fascists and Marxist. How all this happened to me seems to have been so fast. But I guess time goes faster the older you get. Everything starts in California before it gets out East. It seems like we have to copy everything all of you do. But now California and New York are the two states that are the highest in debt and I do not know what is going to happen I just hope we get it straightened out. I open Rep. Garrett and all the other people will survive and those that died I pray that we never forget them, especially the 9 year old child which is more senseless then all the rest. You may want to remove me from the LA Progressive newsletter list, but that is your choice. I have one more comment. I saw Nancy Pelosi standing beside Congresswomen Brenda Lee who I saw on a video back in June of last year when they both were at the Progressive Movement set up by Van Jones who admits becoming a radical and a Communist when he went to prison. He said he just does not speak of it too much now, but he is still out there and Valerie Jarrett, of course, has him high on the totem pole. Anyway when I saw Pelosi & Lee standing together and I remember the video that was on the internet after that 3 day Meeting of the Progressive, Lee got up there and was bragging on the fact that she was a member of the Progressive movement, a member of the Communist Party in California and a Congresswoman, also. She said at that time there was about 100 Democrats in the House that were all Members of the Progressive Movement but she did not name names. I know Allen Grayson and Meeks both from Florida went up there and Grayson spoke at 8am the last morning. Neither one of them were re-elected and I was so glad because Grayson just went around ranting like a crazy man. But there is one thing he did do when he heard about Congresswoman Gifford is said something really kind, I can’t remember the exact words but I was really shocked.

“Sarah Palin is not talking about going after these people to harm them physically but politically and the same thing with the Tea Party people they are not violent & have always demonstrated in peace.”

You aren;t qualified to say what Palin does, and you are sorely mistaken about the tea Party pacificism.

So many Tea folks think their own lofty morals somehow permeate their cause du jour, but I seem to remember racism-laden epithets and misspelled signage that simply defies this blanket morality.

Elaine, you have every right to proclaim your own virtues, but when you assume that the rest of the Tea party, which has proven conclusively that they are not all of the same cloth, somehow represents your own standards, you are projecting your own morality on so many others who do not share your compassion and civic conscience.

Morality in it’s members is a minority subset of the Tea Party, not vice-versa.

If I’m to believe what’s on TV, this incident curiously parallels the Virginia Tech shootings. In both cases, college student who is known crazy is left at large. In Arizona, the school had the foresight to kick him out unless he could get psychiatric clearance, but in either case, the crazy gets his Glock and kills people until physically stopped.

I’ve heard that psychosis usually shows up in early adulthood, perhaps more time an effort should be devoted to looking to the mental health of college students.

Disgusting….the only reason I have not been removed from this mailing list is that somewhere deep down I have a desire to help you see the light or wake up from whatever road trip to hell you are traveling with all your ‘good intentioned pave stones’ Instead, the reality is that I end up with a sickening feeling in my stomach every time I read one of these ‘motivated’ articles that apparently you see not the harm in.
I once had a philosophy teacher tell me to pay close attention to the use of the word ‘but’ and to be mindful of what precedes this word…as its sincerity will be greatly diminished if not completely written off. I think you might see the use of the word ‘but’ in your article had you been genuinely concerned about the tragedy in this story. The tragedy in this story is about the innocent people hurt and killed, a young man who apparently was dissillusioned terribly… insane to a particular clinical degree or perhaps more likely…’psychosis-causing’ drugs like crystal-meth could surely be involved! To me this is very clear. To you this is obviously an opportunity to continue your ongoing agenda and this terribly sickening aspect of our social and political climate (as the Sherrif you quoted was describing)…of wanting to be ‘right’ Nobody is ‘Right’ in this tragic incident. It is a terrible incident. Would you see it logical to have come out the day after president Reagan was shot and blame it on Jodi Foster that subconsciously or otherwise seduced Hinckley to pull off that assasination attempt? Only weirdos with some ramrod of an agenda do that sorta thing…..ESPECIALLY in the midst of the actual tragedy!!! I meant it just happened and the names of the dead have not even been released. So you don’t like Sarah Palin. O.K. Stand back and look at all things in life… activists never seem to take into consideration that if they really wanted to change things they would make some changes in the way they do things themselves. By the way, this is the only way things in this world change is when we change ourselves and in doing so attracts others to genuinely be moved to take action with their own behavior. Trying to change things outside of yourself in any other way simply contributes to the perpetuation of that thing…keeping the fight alive. Sure you can trick people into taking action with clever use of human emotions and ‘spinning’ things and so forth but it always comes back…eventually… reversed! You, Dick and Sharon (both of you write the articles together? I am curious about that formula!) seem to be committed to the ‘fight’ People get hurt and killed as a result of the ‘fight’ People also get murdered and killed for no discernable, logical reason too. There may be nothing any one can do about certain things. It is always good to pause and allow for all things ‘considerable’ to be thought. Stay with ‘all things considerable’ and you might mind find yourself changing…and even helping to change others.

This is one of the most disgusting posts I have ever seen. To use the tragic events in Tucson where not only Rep Giffords was shot but many others, some fatally, as a political club to beat up on some one who used the words ‘go after’ which could mean anything in a poltical context is reprehensible.

You owe all your readers an apology. Anyone who accepts what you wrote as being factual, meaningful in anyway, or just plain wonderful politically is a very sick individual. Just as sick as the man who went over the edge in Tucson.

We should all stand back and think for a moment how and article like this has cheapened us all. We are better than this.

We should pull together and pray for the individuals involved and their families instead of taking cheap political potshots at someone like Sarah Palin who had absolutely nothing to do with what happened today.

As another jayhawk, let me say that it doesn’t matter what the shooter’s politics are, the fact is that the right has launched a gun-terminology campaign against the middle and the left, and that kind of rhetoric triggers a response from crazies that manifests itself as murder and mayhem.

Anyone who tries to diminish the far-right’s role in this cultural digression is giving sympathy to the devil, regardless of Loughner’s political bent.

Also, don’t conflate criticism of careless politicians and opportunists like Palin with opposition to 2nd Amendment rights. The 2nd Amendment assumes only sane, rational, and community-cooperative people would be allowed to own guns (“A well regulated Militia,” and that is verbatim) and this guy is living proof that gun laws are hardly well-regulated.

READ THE CONSTITUTION! Gun regulation is at the very foundation of the 2nd Amendment.

You have been removed from the LA Progressive newsletter distribution list.

However, your comment deserves a response. It was with thoughtful consideration that we decided to include discussion of “Sarah Palin’s 20″ in this article. We may never know what was in the mind of the shooter but as information activists we felt it important to remind our readers of the imagery generated and promoted by the Palin PAC — imagery that used crosshairs on a map to mark the congressional reps. When the Palin PAC released this image, many warned that it sent the wrong message. It is now rumored that this image has been removed from the PAC’s site.

Yes, like all people who are aware of this tragedy, we are sickened by it. We hope that the survivors recover and that the loved ones of those whose lives were taken find peace. But the truth is, all we can do is try to stop senseless acts of violence like this from happening again —

To quote Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, speaking about Arizona:

“When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government. The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous. And, unfortunately, Arizona I think has become sort of the capital. We have become the Mecca for prejudice and bigotry.

“It’s not unusual for all public officials to get threats constantly, myself included. And that’s the sad thing of what’s going on in America. Pretty soon, we’re not going to be able to find reasonable, decent people who are willing to subject themselves to serve in public office.”

Again, you are right on with your understanding of a problem. The problem I have is with weapons of mass destruction in the hands of citizens who are irresponsible. Guns with the capacity to kill in groups of people are not for sport. They are just too dangerous in the hands of the general population.
As for the rhetoric, It is time to take hate speak off our public airlines and the web for that matter!!!!!!
Perhaps Joshua is a little over the border as his letter just doesn’t make sense.
I don’t understand his logic. Well, maybe it’s me but, I just don’t understand the point he is making. His intention is as unclear as the shooter.

“U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of the 8th Congressional District and 5th District Congressman Harry Mitchell, both Democrats, also objected to the ban. Giffords owns a Glock handgun and regards gun ownership as a constitutional right and an “…Arizona tradition,” said spokesman C.J. Karamargin.

“Mitchell spokesman Seth Scott said the congressman is a “strong supporter of the Second Amendment and believes that people ought to have the right to own a firearm.”

On August 31, 2010, Giffords praised the arrival of National Guard troops on the border: “Arizonans have waited a long time for the deployment of the National Guard in our state. Their arrival represents a renewed national commitment to protecting our border communities from drug cartels and smugglers.”

For the immediate posting of this tragic shooting and specifically for posting Sarah Palin’s list of “Democrats to go after” in her Reload campaign. We now have ammunition to target the affect of Palin’s hateful and crazy words prompting the crazies of the right.

it doesn’t matter what the shooter’s politics are, the fact is that the right has launched a gun-terminology campaign against the middle and the left, and that kind of rhetoric triggers a response from crazies that manifests itself as murder and mayhem.

Anyone who tries to diminish the far-right’s role in this cultural digression is giving sympathy to the devil, regardless of Loughner’s political bent.

Also, don’t conflate criticism of careless politicians and opportunists like Palin with opposition to 2nd Amendment rights. The 2nd Amendment assumes only sane, rational, and community-cooperative people would be allowed to own guns (“A well regulated Militia,” and that is verbatim) and this guy is living proof that gun laws are hardly well-regulated.

The Body Politic

Dave Zirin: She is our Jordan. She is our Jim Brown. She is our Babe Ruth, calling his shots. She is no longer content to dodge bullets, but understands how to stop them. Serena is that rare athlete who has not only mastered her sport. She’s harnessed it.